US President Donald Trump, the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, and their relevant
impacts on both the gold and silver prices this year and outwards to 2018,
were the main points of discussion as the annual Mines and Money exhibition
drew to a close Thursday.

The election of Trump has supported gold prices this year due to
increased political risk, investors and analysts at the summit agreed.

"We have seen a disconnection between interest rates and gold price
movements this year, with both higher expected [core] rates and a rise in the
gold price in the second half of 2017," Simona Gambarini of Capital Economics
told the audience. "This has happened on the back of heightened geopolitical
uncertainty."

Trump's announced fiscal stimulus in the US will likely turn out
considerably smaller than planned at $1.5 trillion instead of $4 trillion,
while no major infrastructure spending is expected, which will limit downward
pressure on the gold price, she added.

Bitcoin, the most recognized of all the cryptocurrencies, has ballooned
1000% over the past 12 months, and as such was widely addressed by
commentators and a panelist. Many compared it to bullion as it shares
characteristics, chiefly functioning as an inflation-hedge, largely outside of
governmental controls.

Bitcoin's sharp rise the last year is a net positive signal for gold,
investors agreed.

"The same millennials that are now so invested in Bitcoin, might be
interested in gold too," Ellis Martin, CEO of the Ellis Report said Thursday.
In order to meet younger investors' preferences, the gold investment
industry itself will become digitized -- backed by blockchain, the technology
supporting cryptocurrencies, said Peter Grosskopf, CEO of Sprott Asset
Management. Projects like Royalmint's RMG, Paxos and TradeWind Markets already
building a presence in this space, he added.

The bullion market appeared to be being pulled into the digital age at
the 2017 LBMA/LPPM conference in Barcelona back in October, with a key talking
point being cryptocurrencies and their implications for gold trade going
forward.Even the most traditional of industry players have been taking note of
digital currencies, which have become much used buzzwords.

During a panel discussion, Frank Holmes, CEO of US Global Investors,
addressed the idea that cryptocurrencies -- those backed by a digital
fingerprint -- will be a key component of the global economic landscape in
coming years.

"There is something big happening [in cryptocurrencies]," he said.

There was a lot of chat about the partnership between the CME and the
Royal Mint, allowing investors to trade a form of cryptocurrency fully-backed
by Royal Mint-vaulted, allocated gold.